Newton Abbot in historic maps

I like maps; and have done so probably since pre-teen years. I suspect the main reason is perhaps I am inherently an explorer, which also explains why I am not, for example, a beach or package holiday person. Maps enable and facilitate exploration of towns, cities and countryside. Historic maps enable the mind to wander through – explore – the geography of the past.

I have a collection of atlases at home: Atlas of the Celts, Historical Atlas of South West England, Maps of Victorian Devon – and many others. As an energy, climate change and sustainability professional I have set up Geographic Information Systems in the local authorities I worked for.

So, given my interest in geography and maps it is hardly surprising that I love exploring historic maps. In articles on this page I will take a series of short dives into maps to reveal the history of Newton Abbot.

The map above is part of 1 of 15 maps of the Newton Abbot urban area, surveyed in 1888, showing St.Leonard’s Tower and lower East St.

Sources

To start with I shall focus on the Ordnance Survey Town Plans of the 1840s to 1890s. Newton Abbot was surveyed in 1888 and 15 maps of the urban area were published at a scale of 1:500.

Maps are available from the National Library of Scotland.